Thursday, September 23, 2004

Private Pilot

It was a long, sometimes frustrating journey getting there, but finally on Sept 23, Dave passed his checkride and is now a licensed Private Pilot!

Achieving that goal means that Dave can now fly anywhere (except into clouds), day or night, and without ever having to get an instructor's permission! And more importantly, now he can take passengers!

With the boys champing at the bit, Dave plotted out a nice little one hour round trip over the city of Huntsville and down to Lake Guntersville.

Tucker was the first to go up, and thoughtfully provided a cooler with "in-flight snacks". He also brought along the camera so we could record the event. The weather was perfect and the scenery spectacular. Tuck even had the chance to take the controls for a bit over the Lake.

Tuck snapped this picture just after takeoff. The Space & Rocket Center is right of center, and downtown Huntsville is in the upper left corner. (click for full-sized image)

Tucker at the controls

Gerrit was the next to go up (the next day), and he manned the video camera. We called home as we passed the house so that the rest family could come out to watch us fly over.

After all of that, Karen decided it as her turn. The weather wasn't great, with lots of haze and clouds beginning to move in, but we finally decided to go anyway. It was a slightly bumpier ride than the boys had, but still plenty clear enough to see the sights. It was another fun flight, in what is sure to be a long string of fun trips through the wild blue yonder!